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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (May 18, 1988)
(A p ) .gl I. 87 No. 151 LISPS 045360 6 Pages Texas A&M m a V# The Battalion ie ! an Vnl id helper.. • ' lick 'i to y , ; lnfe sinceL lea gue’«R« esday. 11 d received 1 national n, nd broad® ' only unar he NBA | 1 nning the nne true." A68 assisnij :S(, n. breaW set bv Osar; He ranked vuh 10.6^ •ixth mcheij game. s ’ -John's sit I piokintht ( the Colleae Station, Texas Wednesday, May 18, 1988 Vhen an at told his; ith three teas* tit with th ; weeded toll itter. 3,103 graduate during weekend By Loyd Brumfield Senior Staff Writer Texas A&M seniors participated in graduation ceremonies over the weekend, and if there was a theme to it all, it would have been challenge, technology and opportunity. There were 3,103 degrees, includ ing 112 doctorate degrees, awarded in ceremonies on Friday and Satur day in G. Rollie White Coliseum and Rudder Auditorium. Two hundred and thirty seniors graduated with honors - 43 grad uated Suma Cum Laude, 109 grad uated Magna Cum Laude, and 178 graduated Cum Laude. Gov. Bill Clements spoke in Fri day’s ceremony to advanced degree candidates and undergraduates in the colleges of Liberal Arts and Ar chitecture and Environmental De sign. Clements advised students not to relinquish personal values. “Let’s not forget traditional values like family, Sunday school and the personal values of which the Bible speaks so eloquently,” he said. “Chal lenges will come in many hues and colors, and meeting those challenges takes commitment, character and the personal values Eve spoken of.” Today’s students will lead the na tion into the future, Clements said. “In the 1920s we developed the assembly line, which led to automa tion, computerization and finally, robotics,” he said. “Television didn’t become a household item until the 1950s, and then new technologies developed, like the VCR. “You will lead us into a century of profound change and challenge. The foresight of the past helps us evaluate the future.” Clements said no other university in the nation prepares a student for post-college life better than A&M. “No institution in the Southwest, or even in the nation, develops char acter as well as A&M,” he said. “Wi thout character, you will fail. Re member, the battle of San Jacinto was won after the fall of the Alamo.” Jim Wright, speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives, ad dressed undergraduates in the col leges of Business Administration, Science and Agriculture Saturday. Wright emphasized a positive self- image and good work habits. “Accentuate the positives. Don’t think on the negatives,” he said. “What you think you can do in life is limited by your actions. You need a positive self-image for that. “What is self-image? Well, it isn’t ego and it certainly isn’t boastful ness, but it is knowing yourself and believing in your work.” Wright used the Chrysler Cor poration as an example to illustrate the power of faith. “In 1979, Chrysler was $4 million under,” he said. “Some people in Congress thought the corporation was finished. Lee lacocca didn’t think so. He had faith, the Chrysler motto was, ‘We can do it, consider it done.’ It appeared at Chrysler deal erships all over the country. Faith is contagious.” Like Clements, Wright em phasized the affect new technologies will have on goals and dreams. “Back in 1961, President John F. Kennedy said we’d have a man on the moon by 1970,” Wright said. “That was just nine years away. No body knew how it could be done, but the sheer challenge galvanized the Congress and the scientific commu nity into making that dream come true.” In Friday night’s ceremony, Ed ward C. Aldridge, secretary of the U.S. Air Force, told seniors in the colleges of Education, Engineering, Geosciences and Veterinary Medi-* cine that excellence was the key to continued prosperity. “I challenge this class to build through professional excellence,” he said. “Each of you has tasted excel lence; now you must continue it. Never compromise the quality of your work.” Aldridge said modern technology has given today’s graduates an edge over previous graduates. “When I graduated, space and sci ence fiction were almost synono- mous,” he said. “Now, thanks to computers and new advances, there is a significant difference between the two. “People say if the automobile in dustry had developed as fast as the Supercollider project, cars would cost $3 and get a million miles to the gallon.” Aldridge said students must be wary of falling behind in the world market. “The Class of ’88 has committed themselves to expanding their knowledge,” he said. “Most of this century our nation has led the world in innovations. Increasingly, though, advances in engineering and other technologies have come from abroad. “Some say the United States has See Graduate, page 6 xport sales high, .S. trade deficit lowest in 3 years 0£f jr&i "•rSr- m mm, ■ 5*^4 [ WASHINGTON (AP) — A re- cord level of export sales gave the ^^Jjf^MUnited States its lowest monthly deficit in three years in March, government said Tuesday. Presi- d tnt Reagan seized the report as r i . rhetorical ammunition against the ftrade bill. ■ The Commerce Department re ported that the deficit shrank dra matically in March to $9.7 billion, a drop of 29.5 percent from the Feb- JTJ.irv imbalance of $13.8 billion — statistics which sent the dollar soar ing on world money markets. ■ The improvement came from a 23 Brcent surge in American exports, which rose to an all-time high of $29 billion, as demand for U.S. machin ery, aircraft, computers and chemi- 1s picked up sharply. This offset a 'smaller rise in imports, which / Hmbed 3.6 percent to $38.7 billion. KA month ago, the unexpectedly bad February trade deficit sent the dollar plunging in value and trig gered a 101-point drop in the Dow Jones average of 30 industrial stocks, the fifth-worst loss on record. ■ The March report was good news for the dollar, which rose sharply Recent immigration law fails to stop flow of aliens against other major currencies, but the stock market and bond market were decidely less impressed. The Dow Jones average of 30 in dustrial stocks closed down about 21 points, and declining issues outnum bered advances by a nearly 2-1 mar gin on the New York Stock Ex change. I REAL YWEI IRE lY C jData supports ^Ttheory about water’s origin latter wM go to S3f our Classi' in help yo u , big job' iliol I BALTIMORE (AP) — A contro versial theory that all of the Earth’s toceans were filled with water from blackened snowballs that fall by the Billions from space is gaining sup port from once-skeptical scientists. Two studies reported this week at the American Geophysical Union Jeeting, along with studies in Eu rope and Canada, support the the ory first proposed two years ago by University of Iowa physicist Louis A. ■rank. 1 “No one has yet found data to Blow' the comets don’t exist,” Frank Bid Tuesday at the AGU meeting. • £ glut he admitted, “My life w r ould cer- 2 "I Tjtp'nly have been easier” if his snow r - Balls-from-space concept had never Ben published. ■ Frank based his theory on data ^pthered from 1981 to 1986 by the dynamics Explorer I satellite. In Utraviolet images Frank found unex- Slained holes punched through the atmosphere. Reagan, fielding reporters’ ques tions during a brief appearance Tuesday in the White House press room, said the latest report “is clear evidence that the trade balance is im proving as our economy continues to grow.” Reagan said his veto message to Congress on the 1,000-page bill “is currently under review” and he ex pects to issue it “within a couple of days.” “But today’s news emphasizes what we have been saying all along, that this is not the time to be impos ing restrictions on trade or reducing incentives for free open markets or closing job opportunities,” the presi dent said. “We want more jobs, not less.” Analysts said some investors are worried that the export boom will spark another round of inflation in the United States as factories, many already operating at peak capacity, begin to raise prices. Indeed, the Federal Reserve Board said in another economic re port Tuesday that American indus try operated at an eight-year high of 82.7 percent of capacity in April, a 0.3 percentage point rise from March. The high operating rate was solid evidence of the boom in export sales, economists said, but they cautioned that the country is approaching a danger zone when tight labor mar kets begin pushing prices higher. Unemployment fell to a 14-year low of 5.4 percent last month. The administration saw no infla tionary danger signs in the trade fig ures, but officials argued that the economy could be derailed if Con gress insists on passing the omnibus trade bill over Reagan’s veto. “This is no time to shoot ourselves in the foot and . . . stymie job cre ation,” White House spokesman Marlin Fitzwater said. Some analysts said the dramatic improvement in the trade deficit made it all but certain that Congress would not be able to come up with the two-thirds majorities in each house to override the veto. COMBES, Texas (AP) — Undocumented aliens are still pouring into the United States despite a new immi gration law that prohibits hiring them, officials said Tuesday after finding 42 people hidden in a north bound freight train. Juan Garcia, assistant chief with the Border Patrol’s McAllen Sector, said the numbers have even been in creasing lately, and agents who stopped the train in the Lower Rio Grande Valley early Tuesday were expect ing to find more aliens among the 113 cars that stretched for more than a mile. “This is an extremely low count,” said B.A. French, a supervisory patrol agent with the Border Patrol’s Har lingen station. A recent five-day sweep of trains leaving the Valley netted more than 100 aliens per day, French said, in cluding a group suffering from dehydration in a sealed boxcar. Among those apprehended Tuesday morning were families and two small children huddled with them in a Rangel said the number of aliens has dropped ‘ ~ ~ ' ~ ' of 198( grain hopper. The aliens, all from Mexico, appeared stunned as they climbed down a ladder from the grain car while a - Border Patrol helicopter circled overhead shining a spotlight on the 4 a.m. scene. “I came to find work wherever it (the train) stops,” Tomas Vega, 21, of San Luis Potosi, Mexico, said while another man from the same city carried a crying 3-year- old boy to the immigration bus. On hand to observe the operation were Henry Oncken, U.S. attorney for the Southern District of Texas, and Jim Olech, the Border Patrol chief in Wash ington. During the first week of May, the Border Patrol’s McAllen Sector reported 1,691 apprehensions of undo cumented aliens, most of whom were not on trains. Last week, the sector reported 1,080 apprehensions, 204 in volving people from countries other than Mexico, said Fred Rangel, a Border Patrol intelligence agent in McAllen. since the Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986 was passed, but that the total is higher than a year ago. Patrol Agent Michael O’Barr with the Laredo Sector said the situation is the same in his area. “Overall, we’re seeing slightly above what we were” last year, O’Barr said. “The new law’s had its impact, but still people are willing to take a chance. Unfortu nately, we have those employers who are willing to hire them.” The new immigration law makes it illegal to hire un documented aliens. Employer sanctions under the new law go into full effect June 1. But aliens keep coming because of the desperate eco nomic situation in Mexico and other countries in the re gion, O’Barr said. “We’re still catching 500 or 600 a day,” said Doug Mosier, with the Border Patrol’s El Paso Sector that stretches to the Arizona border. He said apprehensions are about 30 percent below the rate in 1986, when the sector made 312,000 alien arrests. The numbers include multiple apprehensions of the same person in some cases. “The situation in Mexico is terrible, and people are caught in a situation where their country has nothing to offer them,” said Telma Longoria, director for Catholic Social Services in the church’s Brownsville Diocese. She said the diocese is seeing more Central Ameri cans than ever at its Casa Oscar Romero shelter east of Brownsville, which averages 150-200 aliens at any given time, primarily from El Salvador, Nicaragua, Guate mala and Honduras. Most do not stay at the sanctuary more than a couple of weeks, she said. “The people are coming,” Longoria said. “There is no doubt about that. We see it all the time.” With the weather heating up, officials said they are checking the trains more often to prevent a repeat of the tragedy in Sierra Blanca, Texas, last year, when 18 aliens suffocated in a sealed, sweltering boxcar. Pratt to head ‘Aggievision,’ provost OKs all 4 nominees The editors for Aggieland ’89, The Battalion and the producer for Aggievision have been approved by Provost Donald McDonald. The Student Publications Board nominated editors for the 1989 Ag gieland and for the summer and fall semesters of the Battalion on April 25. The board nominated the Aggie vision editor on May 10. The appro val makes the nominations official. Cindy Milton, 20, a junior journa lism major, was appointed editor for the Aggieland. Richard Williams, 23, a senior agricultural journalism ma jor, is the summer editor of The Bat talion and Lydia Berzsenyi, 20, a se nior math major, will be the newspaper’s editor in the fall. Cheryl Ann Pratt, 21, a senior journalism major, was named producer of Ag gievision. However the video yearbook pro gram may be discontinued if the present production does not satisfy the the Board, said Dr. Douglas Starr, chairman of the Board. The video yearbook will be evaluated by the Board within the next two months to decide whether the Board will approve financing of the pro- jectfor an additional two-year pe riod, he said. Starr said the Board decided to possibly evaluate the pro ject over two years instead of the current one year period because the c;ost of producing the initial Aggievi sion would probably not be rep resentative of later costs. The uncertainty results from a controversy which arose when the University in 1986 approved video yearbooks from both Educational Broadcasting Services and Student Publications. In 1986-87 the student staff of the video yearbook resigned and the project was abandoned for that year. Later a compromise was reached whereby the Student Publi cations project would rent equip ment from EBS. Starr said this caused problems in scheduling and cost. He said equipment specifically for the video yearbook is on order, although he did not know when it will be ready. Forces raid besieged Sikh temple AMRITSAR, India (AP) — Elite security forces closed in on Sikh extremists in the Golden Temple complex Tuesday, cap turing two towers and a dining hall that adjoin the inner sanctum of Sikhism’s holiest site, police said. Sikh gunmen had used the minarets as vantage points to fire at police and paramilitary troops who besieged the temple complex May 9. K.P.S. Gill, chief of the Punjab state police, said the towers over looking the gold-domed temple were taken Tuesday evening but “operations still are continuing in the basement connecting the tow ers.” He said about 90 men of the “Black Cat” commandos pen etrated the two-level basement, firing gas bombs and incendiary shells to force out the extremists, who are fighting a terrorist cam paign for an independent Sikh nation. Dense clouds of smoke bil lowed from holes at the tops of the towers. About six militants were believed still in the base ment, which the militants had made into a major fortification. The body of a Sikh militant was recovered from the first floor of one of the towers, Gill said, and police expected to find more. Au thorities have reported 36 people slain in the siege, most of them Sikh militants. Elsewhere in Punjab, attacks by Sikh extremists took 10 lives in the previous 24 hours, the United News of India reported. That fol lowed 44 killings late Sunday and Monday, the highest total in a similar time period since militants began a terrorist campaign for a separate Sikh nation in 1982. At least 1,018 people have been slain this year and the high rate of killings prompted the Golden Temple siege. The temple is used as a refuge by ex tremists who would turn Punjab, the only Indian state with a Sikh majority, into the nation of Kha- listan. Tuesday’s commando raid was the first major penetration of the temple complex. The minarets are attached to the dining hall on the eastern flank of the pool sur rounding the gold-domed inner sanctum. A senior police official said se curity forces were keeping a vigil around the Golden Temple with searchlights. He spoke on condi tion of anonymity.